After a few days, a doctor diagnosed him with Rat Lungworm Disease. Extremely rare and as nasty as it sounds, it can only be found in that part of Hawaii. And it comes from a microscopic parasite in a rat.

If my memory serves me correctly: A few years ago a guy in Australia ate a slug, because of a dare from his friends. He contracted this and came down sick. I'm pretty sure he was in intensive care for a month from it.

"If the larvae are in a paratenic host, they break into the bloodstream and enter various organs, particularly the central nervous system. A great deal of damage occurs wherever the larva tries to make a home. In response to the attack, the body attempts to destroy it by walling it off or killing it. The larva moves rapidly to escape, seeking out the liver, eyes, spinal cord or brain."

You do not want priapism. If you do not get the blood out of your penis, it will cause the tissue to die and well, the surgeon will have to do a Bobbitt on your gangrenous penis. Of course, you could go to the doctor early enough and they insert a large needle into your penis and drain the blood out.So, do you want priapism now?

Humans are incidental hosts of this roundworm, and may become infected through ingestion of larvae in raw or undercooked snails or other vectors, or from contaminated water and vegetables. The larvae are then transported via the blood to the central nervous system (CNS), where they are the most common cause of eosinophilic meningitis, a serious condition that can lead to death or permanent brain and nerve damage

Enjoy those raw vegetables vegans, num num nom. I'm sure a little more salad dressing will do the trick.

Lordy... contagious RSD with the effects ramped up worse. I literally cringed away from the article subby - /farkin' rude gesture. Constant RSD pain is plenty bad enough without having to think about a version that can be passed around and I'd be even MORE sensitive to pain. Christ, screw you for putting this up here for me to read, I'm gonna go gibber in a corner under my blankie now. Ain't enough meds in the world to get that image outta my head.

BKITU:After a few days, a doctor diagnosed him with Rat Lungworm Disease. Extremely rare and as nasty as it sounds, it can only be found in that part of Hawaii. And it comes from a microscopic parasite in a rat.

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Funny, before I clicked on the comments (only read the headline) the first thing in my head was "wow, that sounds worse than monkey pox". And here, Boobies is a goddamn monkey. Those things will rip your face off!

Cagey B:You know those raccoons you see running around in the street sometimes near your house?

They may be carrying this.

"If the larvae are in a paratenic host, they break into the bloodstream and enter various organs, particularly the central nervous system. A great deal of damage occurs wherever the larva tries to make a home. In response to the attack, the body attempts to destroy it by walling it off or killing it. The larva moves rapidly to escape, seeking out the liver, eyes, spinal cord or brain."

Surprisingly, this time TFA doesn't mention that "activity book" for kids. So no, actually not a repeat. Of course, you realize what this means:

1. Rat Lungworm Trifecta now in play!

2. Rat Lungworm goes from being something that afflicts dirty hippies in Hawaii who don't wash their salads, to *ominous chord* the next scary potential pandemic. Someone call CNN.

Oh, and as someone who lives about 20 miles from that area, I just gotta point this out:

TFA: Reinert was working on a farm in Hawaii's Puna District, learning to be an organic farmer.

I don't recall ever having to learn to be an organic farmer. Dig little hole, put seeds in, add manure or dead fish if you have it handy, cover, water, wait. If you want to be really fancy, read about Three Sisters in Wikipedia. (Done it. It worked well.) This isn't something new or magical - it was around before Europeans even got to North America.

"Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms" (WWOOF) is actually a thing now, and there are almost 140 "farms" providing such "opportunities" on this island. Basically, you buy a ticket to Hawaii and pay a farm a little bit for the "opportunity" to do manual labor, live in "rustic" squalor with a bunch of other "like-minded people" (i.e. wannabe hippies), and generally be taken advantage of.

If you're lucky, you'll work on a farm that grows something with alleged healing properties, like Noni, and get a whole extra layer of new-age crap on top of the spiel. Or maybe Hari Krishnas. If you're especially lucky, you'll get a "farm" that's more like a cult commune, complete with charismatic leader who wants to fark you all.

(And I say this as someone who's visited Twin Oaks and stayed at Acorn and Dancing Rabbit. I may be a long-haired egalitarian, but at least I have standards!)